Why AI audiobook narrators could win over some authors and readers, despite the vocal bumps

For the first few seconds, the narrator of Kristen Ethridge's new romance audiobook, Shelter from the Storm, sounds like a human being. The voice is light and carefully enunciated, with the slow pacing of any audiobook narrator, as it begins: "There's a storm coming, and her name is Hope." "I know that sounds a little crazy," the breathy voice continues, grinding out the words. "That something so destructive could be labeled with such a peaceful name." It's the aural equivalent of watching the gears of a machine rotate under a surface of what looks like human skin.